Kansas State’s Kaitlynn Pelger (Offensive Player of the Week), Kansas’ Chelsea Albers (Defensive Player of the Week) and TCU’s Natalie Gower (Rookie of the Week) are Big 12 volleyball weekly award winners for matches played Oct. 14-20.

Pelger earns her fifth career league honor and first on the season.

Albers and Gower earn their first career weekly awards. Albers’ accolade is the fifth defensive honor for a Jayhawk this season, four of which have been by a different defensive player.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEKKaitlynn Pelger, Kansas State, Sr., MB, Olathe, Kan./Olathe SouthLast week, Pelger led the Big 12 in kills per set (5.00) and ranked second in points per set (5.33), while hitting .406 in K-State’s one match on the week. She tallied 15 kills on 32 attempts with just two errors, including a .455 third set hitting percentage. Her performance helped K-State tally its best hitting percentage in a Big 12 match this season (.266). Her 15 kills were fourth-most overall in the Big 12 for the week and are tied for third-most in a three-set Big 12 match. With the 15 kills, Pelger moved into fourth-place on K-State’s career kills list. The senior’s 1,408 kills makes her just the fourth player in K-State history to have more than 1,400 career kills. She is also the active career leader in the Big 12 in this category.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEKChelsea Albers, Kansas, Jr., OH, Papillion, Neb./Papillion La VistaAlbers was a dual defensive force last week as Kansas went 2-0 in league play to improve to 6-1 in Big 12 action this season. She shared the league lead for blocks on the week with an average of 1.71, tallying six in each match. She also tallied double-digit dig numbers with 12 at Texas Tech and 10 at West Virginia for a 3.14 average on the week.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEKNatalie Gower, TCU, Fr., MB, St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph’s AcademyFor the week, Gower was the only player ranked in the top 10 in the conference statistics in five categories (hitting percentage, blocks, points, kills and service aces). The freshman middle blocker led the league for the week in points per set (5.83) and service aces per set (1.33), while ranking third with 1.67 blocks per set. In their only Big 12 match for the week, Gower led the Horned Frogs for the second match in a row with double digit kills (10), while also posting a career-high four service aces in the match against Baylor. In Big 12-only matches, Gower is seventh in hitting percentage and eighth in service aces and blocks.